Flowers have had a partnership with insect pollinators from the beginning. They are masters at attracting these love messengers and perpetuating the species through pollination. There are infinite ways in which they accomplish this goal.

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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Don't Underestimate the Native Pollinators

The concern for honey bees has exploded in recent years. A
day doesn't go by without a new article on the media or comments on numerous
nature blogs. Some are agonized cries of help with words such as: Save the bees
to save our food supply! Honey bees are going extinct, we are next! Almost
completely lost in the shuffle are native pollinators, namely the 4,000 species
of bees in the US.

Most of the public is unaware that native pollinators could supply
a substantial amount of crop pollination. In many instances one or another
native bee or an entire cadre of them results in more efficient pollination
than that of honey bees. Here are a few examples:

In an apple orchard, 250 orchard mason bees can do as much
as 15,000 to 20,000 honey bees. Squash bees are early risers and are likely to
do more pollination of pumpkins and squash than the late arrivals—honey bees
and bumble bees. The Southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa, is capable of
pollinating $20 worth of blueberries in her lifetime. Many native bees work in wetter
or colder weather than honey bees. The alkali bee and the non-native alfalfa
leaf cutter bee pollinate a higher percentage of visited flowers than honey
bees do. Some small orchards and vegetable fields get most of their pollination
done by native bees.

All and all according to some studies, native bees provide $3 billion worth of
pollination to agriculture, while honey bees' contribution is valued at $15-18 billion. If we put native bees to work, we
could reverse these proportions. Perhaps the best way out of the so-called
honey bee crisis is to find the way to take better advantage of the other bees.
How difficult would that be?

A hundred years ago native bees
played an important role on crop pollination. As far back as seventy or eighty
years, several authors noticed that bumble bee and solitary bee populations
were dropping. This loss was most noticeable in larger farms where sometimes
fruit or vegetable yield suffered by the absence of pollinators. Nobody seemed
terribly concerned as long as the honey bee could be brought into service. Some
observers knew that native bees were more efficient in many cases, but felt
that the ease with which honey bees can be managed compensated for this
drawback.

Intensive farming grew as did the
need for pesticides, and beehives started to be transported long distances and
in large numbers to do their duty. It was the birth of the pollination industry
involving beekeeping practices far removed from what would be considered
natural. It shouldn't surprise us that such an unsustainable system is causing
troubles for honey bees.

Can we bring native pollinators back
after they continued to lose ground for the past century? Are there enough left
around to take over the task of pollinating our crops? Even without statistics, we can be
sure that only a tiny fraction of the previous populations remains. Perhaps,
some species are precariously hanging on the verge of extinction or have
already disappeared.

No species takes the road to extinction
willingly. Every creature, large or small, fights tooth and nail, or mandible
and tarsal claw as the case may be, to stay alive and procreate. A few years
ago, an entomologist found a miner bee's nest in a flower pot in his backyard.
Another bee expert encountered a rare species of bee, regarded close to
extinction, in the very heart of Washington
DC, in a butterfly garden at the
Washington Mall. With remarkable tenacity, these little survivors had managed
to find just enough resources and shelter to raise their families in the middle
of the concrete jungle.

We should not give up hope. Native
pollinator populations can be brought back to the levels of yesteryear; perhaps
then they can resume pollinating the crops that feed us.

Update, April, 2014. I followed some published reports when I said "native bees provide $3 billion worth of
pollination to agriculture, while honey bees' contribution is valued at $15-18 billion." However this may be shortchanging native pollinators. Perhaps they do a lot more. A publication by Claire Kremen states that in California native pollinators are responsible for $2.4 billions and honey bees for $3.9 billions. In other words, in that state native pollinators are responsible for about 40% of all agricultural pollination. I will keep searching the truth.

2 comments:

I guess a desire to know what native pollinators I can provide a little "nursery space" for, here among the highly pesticide treated crop fields, is what is motivating me to try to identify all of the insects that I can find and photograph on our 10 acres. I've been excited to see how many different kinds of bees, flies, and wasps I've been able to notice - and photograph - so far.

And, along with that passion on my part, thank you so much for the work you do with bugguide.net. I notice your comments identifying different specimens as I search through the photos, trying to find the best match for what I'm observing. That site is an incredible aid to me as I learn and then try to share what I'm learning with others in the area.

I have a nice variety of native plants in our small corner lot, and feel privileged to have an assortment of bees and wasps as well as butterflies visit the blooms. I want to do a better job identifying the bees here, too. I love how they let me get close to them to take photos.

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About Me

We are all part of the web of life. Animals need plants and plants need animals and ultimately we all need each other in a very intricate and complex web of interactions.
A biologist from Argentina, resident of the United States for many years. Author of: "Bee Basics, An Introduction to Our Native Bees" by Beatriz Moisset, Ph.D and Stephen Buchmann, Ph.D.
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